What If You Knew You Would Live to Be A Healthy 100 Year Old?

Too many middle-aged people have succumbed to the popular notion that age defines attitude.

When your decades number close to five or more, who says you can’t start a new business, begin to learn new things, or be adventurous?

Don’t be down just because you’re up in age.Longevity lives in your spirit, not your chronology.

Resist the fractured logic that 65, the retirement age, is the end of your useful life. Retirement from a job doesn’t mean your life is over. It is simply a time for a new beginning. Let purpose—not your age—define your life, and you’re alive with the truth.

Who is the oldest person you know or have ever known? What did he or she tell you about the ups and downs of longevity?

Marie McCarthy, my Grandmother McCarthy, lived to age 97. She lived to 97. She didn’t die at 97. Do you see the difference? Sure, other people lived longer than Grandma, but few have had such a quick soft laugh and sense of humor that stayed even after her death.

A funny discovery came out at Grandma’s funeral. She lied about her age. It all began when she met my grandfather. She was born on November 2, 1900. He was born on February 20, 1901. Being older than him by three months didn’t sit well with her. She wanted him to think he was older. She was the eldest of eleven Kuhn children. Her whole family was in on the scam. Her youngest brothers and sisters (my father’s aunts and uncles) were actually younger than my father. They’re the ones who told my father at her funeral that her date of birth had the wrong year—she was born in 1900, not 1901.

Family secrets are sometimes funny things. At her 95th (actually her 96th!) birthday celebration, she was quite put off by all the attention. Now we know why. There, however, I remember her telling me, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have done things differently.” She never did tell me what things she would have done differently, but I sense she had some regrets and some insights.

Along these lines, here is a quote on aging sure to get your crow’s feet showing!

“If you live to the age of a hundred you have it made … because very few people die past the age of a hundred.” George Burns

One the great benefits of grey hair is that the older I get the more I see the hand of God at work in and around me. Of course, I’m asking for help regularly and am, therefore, expectant.

How On-Purpose Can You Be With Ill Health?

Dr. Wayne Andersen, Medical Director of Take Shape For Life, helped me learn new Habits of Health to not just prevent disease, but to move away from disease and toward health. Being at a healthy weight is essential to longevity.

My mother, who is 87, lives in an independent living situation. As I walk the halls on visits and greet people, I don’t see many overweight or obese residents. The thin ones are the lively ones.

If you need help (at any age) getting to a healthier place in your life, get a health coach and learn to develop a thin healthy mind and lifestyle. If you have a health coach, press him or her for more. If you need a health coach, email Judith, my wife. She’s a Certified Health Coach and works with clients across the U.S.

You, too, can live a longer and healthier life. It begins with a decision to be healthy.

I’ve found messages and the means to support my decision to live to be 100 years of age and healthy. Join me?